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Redskins use high school athletic director to defend team name

The Washington Redskins have responded to increased media attention surrounding a potential name change by posting a bizarre story on its website that uses quotes from public school employees to defend the

The Washington Redskins have responded to increased media attention surrounding a potential name change by posting a bizarre story on its website that uses quotes from public school employees to defend the team's name.

A high-school athletic director and a principal, both of whom work in different Ohio schools with "Redskins" as a team name, are cited in the lead story on redskins.com.

"We are very proud of our athletic teams and very proud to be called Redskins!" Coshocton High School athletic director George Hemming said, as quoted in the opening sentence of the piece.

No member of the Redskins organization is quoted in the piece, meaning the official website of the team is using two random school employees (neither of whom work in the Washington D.C. area) to serve as proxy defenders of a franchise that's worth more than one billion dollars. Instead of using its own forum to address the issue, the Redskins got two people who have nothing to do with the NFL to serve as a mouthpiece.

The move to change the Redskins name because of its offensive Native American connotations has gained momentum thanks to increased press coverage and quotes from prominent public figures like D.C. mayor Vincent Gray.

If the support of school officials in the Ohio Valley aren't enough to end the debate, Redskins.com also found that 70 schools use the name Redskins, compared to 75 for Cowboys and 19 for Giants.

Great. And one school has the name Hot Dogs, another has the name Cornjerkers and my cat's breath smells like cat food. What does this have to do with anything?

That a principal in Ohio is proud of the nickname means no more to the Washington Redskins as a school in Montana voting to change the nickname last year. That 70 schools have kept the name means no more than the dozens who haven't. There are diverging viewpoints on the issue and they are increasingly serious. It's time for the Redskins to treat them as such.